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Tag: empty calories

Not only is High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) not good for us – despite how the corn refining companies dress it up, it’s still empty calories that we can do without – it’s found that up to 50% of it contains mercury.

Still, there is perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel. Last month 140 nations got together to develop an international treaty to phase out as much mercury use as possible. Not only that, but the U.S. was one of the leaders in pushing for this internationally binding legislation.

On the domestic front congress could help this by phasing out the use of mercury cell technology in domestic chlorine plants.

The U.S FDA should test HFCS for mercury content AND make those findings public.

We can all help, by cutting down on consumption of products containing HFCS.

High fructose corn syrup, sugar and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same, according to Audrae Erickson, President, Corn Refiners Association. She says that High fructose corn syrup has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.

The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest misunderstandings about this sweetener and obesity, stating that “high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners.”

That last statement though, is the rub. If you really want to eat food with less calories, and better nutritional values, then it’s recommended to cut out the empty calories that come with ALL calorific sweeteners, including both regular sugar, and HFCS.

So TGFC still thinks it’s a good idea to avoid HFCS as part of a sensible diet regimen.